HCM City Seeks $450M WB Loan for Environment Project in 2015-2019

Authorities in Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City plans to borrow an additional $450 million from the World Bank (WB) to continue implementing an environmental sanitation project from 2015 to 2019. The municipal Steering Center for Urban Flood Control Program unveiled the information at a meeting on June 4 to make a feasible report on the second phase of the project. The second phase of Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal Basin project costing $470 million comprises $450 million from the WB’s official development assistance (ODA) and the rest $20 million as the city’s reciprocal capital. During this phase, the project will focus on building a box culvert route from the canal basin to a wastewater treatment plant in Thanh My Loi ward; and constructing a wastewater treatment factory with a daily capacity of 480,000cu.m in district 2. Started in 1993, the project’s first phase with the WB loan of $294 million has helped resolve flooding problems in districts 1,3,10, and Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh, Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts, benefiting over 7,000 local citizens. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is facing with severe flooding with a total 100 hot spots, including with 61 in the inner city, which is severely affecting the environment and live of the locals. Local authorities plan to build 12 major flood control dams by 2020 in order to cope with currently serious inundation that is estimated to cause damages of nearly VND6.2 trillion ($295.24 million) to HCM City a year. (Vnexpress.net June 4)